Public Gets First-Hand Look At Emergency Service Providers
September 10, 2018 at 4:53 p.m.
Public Gets First-Hand Look At Emergency Service Providers
By David [email protected]
Popenfoose gave the little girl the Heimlich maneuver, then turned her over to pat her on the back several times.
Other emergency services personnel came and took over, demonstrating what firefighters, police, EMTs and paramedics do every day – respond to aid anyone in trouble.
The girl seemed to be OK afterward, though perhaps a little shook up.
Family Safety Day is an annual opportunity for the public to see some of the many duties emergency service providers have, as well as learn about safety, view demonstrations, have some fun and grab a few freebies. It is presented by the Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory and sponsored by Kosciusko REMC and Lutheran Health Network.
Parkview Samaritan landed and was on hand for about the first two hours Saturday, while Lutheran Air was scheduled for the last two hours, though it was called to a motorcycle accident around 1:25 p.m.
The Fire Territory gave demonstrations of its JAWS (a hydraulic apparatus used to pry apart the wreckage of crashed vehicles to free people trapped inside) at 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
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At 12:30 p.m., firefighters gave a doll house burning demonstration to provide safety tips on avoiding and escaping house fires.
Parkview EMS had its Safety Concept Ambulance on hand. It’s one of only two in the nation, according to Parkview EMS Manager Carla Gebert. The other is at Parkview Whitley. She said planning for the ambulance took several months, with all the frontline people getting together to make it the safest ambulance possible.
Unlike older model ambulances, she said, an EMT or paramedic doesn’t have to get unbuckled or out of their seat to tend to the patient.
“It just comes back to safety, to have everyone buckled up and still being able to do the job,” she said.
A person is more likely to be killed in an ambulance than in any other public safety vehicle nationally, Gebert said.
“Our goal is to lessen that,” Gebert said. “The old ambulances don’t give (an EMT or paramedic) the ability to stay buckled in.”
Gebert said she’s been a paramedic/EMT for about 35 years and the only time she’s never buckled up was in an ambulance. Now she can be.
Anything over 3 pounds in the ambulance also is buckled in, mounted or closed in.
The cot for the patient is fully mechanical – it doesn’t have to be lifted. The No. 1 reason an EMT leaves that career is because of back injuries, Gebert said. The mechanical cot can hold a person up to 700 pounds.
Gebert estimated it’s been about 25 years since ambulances have had such an overhaul. “This was a major design change,” she said.
Only Parkview has such ambulances. “We are being looked at, at the national level,” she said. “It’s just so out of the box.”
While Parkview was showing off its new ambulance, kids were enjoying the Fire Territory’s Junior Firefighter Challenge. Families were taking in the K9 demonstrations by the Warsaw Police Department, and hitting the booths inside the Center Lake Pavilion.
Organizations with booths in the pavilion included Indiana Department of Child Services, Northern Indiana Hispanic Health Coalition, Walmart Vision Center, Kosciusko County Head Start, WPD DARE and the Kosciusko County Tobacco Free Coalition.
Lutheran Health Network had a surgery room station where children could pretend to be doctors and remove a gummy worm from a dummy patient before eating the piece of candy. The children could watch themselves do the “surgery” on a monitor.
Activities outside the pavilion included free face painting, environmental demonstrations courtesy of the National Weather Service, American Red Cross blood drive, the Save-A-Life fire safety trailer, Parkview Hospital Francine’s Friends mobile mammography and Animal Welfare League with some animals up for adoption. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources and KCSD had tables set up, and there was a bicycle rodeo, among many other activities to check out.
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Popenfoose gave the little girl the Heimlich maneuver, then turned her over to pat her on the back several times.
Other emergency services personnel came and took over, demonstrating what firefighters, police, EMTs and paramedics do every day – respond to aid anyone in trouble.
The girl seemed to be OK afterward, though perhaps a little shook up.
Family Safety Day is an annual opportunity for the public to see some of the many duties emergency service providers have, as well as learn about safety, view demonstrations, have some fun and grab a few freebies. It is presented by the Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory and sponsored by Kosciusko REMC and Lutheran Health Network.
Parkview Samaritan landed and was on hand for about the first two hours Saturday, while Lutheran Air was scheduled for the last two hours, though it was called to a motorcycle accident around 1:25 p.m.
The Fire Territory gave demonstrations of its JAWS (a hydraulic apparatus used to pry apart the wreckage of crashed vehicles to free people trapped inside) at 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
[[In-content Ad]]
At 12:30 p.m., firefighters gave a doll house burning demonstration to provide safety tips on avoiding and escaping house fires.
Parkview EMS had its Safety Concept Ambulance on hand. It’s one of only two in the nation, according to Parkview EMS Manager Carla Gebert. The other is at Parkview Whitley. She said planning for the ambulance took several months, with all the frontline people getting together to make it the safest ambulance possible.
Unlike older model ambulances, she said, an EMT or paramedic doesn’t have to get unbuckled or out of their seat to tend to the patient.
“It just comes back to safety, to have everyone buckled up and still being able to do the job,” she said.
A person is more likely to be killed in an ambulance than in any other public safety vehicle nationally, Gebert said.
“Our goal is to lessen that,” Gebert said. “The old ambulances don’t give (an EMT or paramedic) the ability to stay buckled in.”
Gebert said she’s been a paramedic/EMT for about 35 years and the only time she’s never buckled up was in an ambulance. Now she can be.
Anything over 3 pounds in the ambulance also is buckled in, mounted or closed in.
The cot for the patient is fully mechanical – it doesn’t have to be lifted. The No. 1 reason an EMT leaves that career is because of back injuries, Gebert said. The mechanical cot can hold a person up to 700 pounds.
Gebert estimated it’s been about 25 years since ambulances have had such an overhaul. “This was a major design change,” she said.
Only Parkview has such ambulances. “We are being looked at, at the national level,” she said. “It’s just so out of the box.”
While Parkview was showing off its new ambulance, kids were enjoying the Fire Territory’s Junior Firefighter Challenge. Families were taking in the K9 demonstrations by the Warsaw Police Department, and hitting the booths inside the Center Lake Pavilion.
Organizations with booths in the pavilion included Indiana Department of Child Services, Northern Indiana Hispanic Health Coalition, Walmart Vision Center, Kosciusko County Head Start, WPD DARE and the Kosciusko County Tobacco Free Coalition.
Lutheran Health Network had a surgery room station where children could pretend to be doctors and remove a gummy worm from a dummy patient before eating the piece of candy. The children could watch themselves do the “surgery” on a monitor.
Activities outside the pavilion included free face painting, environmental demonstrations courtesy of the National Weather Service, American Red Cross blood drive, the Save-A-Life fire safety trailer, Parkview Hospital Francine’s Friends mobile mammography and Animal Welfare League with some animals up for adoption. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources and KCSD had tables set up, and there was a bicycle rodeo, among many other activities to check out.
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